Hana Bečičková

A multi-sector global learning experience

I first turned to executive education options when I was working at TCX – The Currency Exchange Fund. We were in the process of reviewing and revisiting the Fund’s strategy and I’d been tasked to lead the project working group. I had a good knowledge of the Fund’s structure and its business model, together with a few ideas about how to approach the task, but I felt I would benefit from a more solid, theoretical grounding. I started researching business strategy, read several case studies and in the process, came across LSE’s Designing Strategy for Competitive Advantage programme.

It’s the people that help make this programme so effective. In a relatively small group, I interacted with a wide range of participants - people from as far afield as India, Singapore, South Africa, Mexico and Botswana, representing government institutions, large corporations and entrepreneurs across sectors as disparate as finance, agriculture tourism and the music industry. Discussions were insightful both inside and outside class, as well as a lot of fun!

One of the other things that impressed me was how well faculty connected the syllabus to the backgrounds and industries of the individual participants. There’s clearly a huge amount of preparation that goes into the programme, and I loved Dr Sosa’s teaching style. She’s hugely enthusiastic about her subject and combines vast theoretical knowledge with broad practical experience. It’s a combination that’s very engaging.

At the beginning of the programme, I agreed with Dr Sosa that I would analyse my company, TCX, for my final assessment. That allowed me to directly apply the concepts I learned to the realities and needs of my company project. I got very thorough feedback on the assignment, which helped draw my attention to different frameworks and approaches I could utilise.

Applying theoretical frameworks in the real world

At the end of 2018 I left my role at TCX to fulfil a long-held dream of traveling around the world. Since then I’ve had several business ideas that I hope to develop in the future, and as part of my thought process I’ve noticed I’m actively using frameworks I learned during the Designing Strategy course. So I’m already thinking about what kind of market the company would operate in, what kind of business model I’d use, as well as taking into account different market players and defining my unique value proposition.

For me, there was a big value add in familiarizing myself with the key concepts involved in designing a business strategy. Right now I’m committed to using my travels to develop myself and the ideas this trip has helped me generate. Thanks to Designing Strategy for Competitive Advantage, I feel like I can apply them irrespective of the field or the type of industry - I have a mental framework that I can turn to even when the specifics of the situation are different.